This is a repost from the lovely Trish Forant (aka @Dayngr) on the Radian6 Social Strategy Blog from her coverage of Social Media Week Miami. Miami Social Marketing was honored to share the stage with some of Miami’s foremost social media veterans on how to keep social media “real.”
Shout outs to: @soulofmiami, @janiec, @alexdc, @vicequeenmaria, @nataschaos and @gopalo for always keeping it “organic and real.” Cheers!
Read the full blog post on Radian6’s site here.
The most important part of social media is being social. You’ve heard this before. But how do you keep the social in social media without being spammy and still meet your goals? Your social networks are made up of people who think and feel. They are caring and passionate. Though they may love your product or brand, they don’t want to be marketed to all the time. Here are three simple ways to stay social in your social media strategy:
1. Start with a shared interest
Whether you’re a non-profit organization or a nightclub, there’s something you’re passionate about. That passion might be directly related to your organization or brand, or it could be something slightly outside of it. Whatever your interest, that’s your starting point for conversation and content. Get those conversations going around your interests and passions by discussing them. Using food as an example, share your latest recipe or ask for advice on what you could make with with the ingredients you have on hand. You can also discuss a favorite restaurant or request suggestions on which restaurant to try next. The point is, real conversations make a difference. Don’t simply push your message and your content. Use what you’re most passionate about to connect with like-minded individuals and keep the conversations going.
2. Connect online but take it offline
The conversations are taking place and you’ve started to connect with some great people online. What’s next? Taking it offline of course. Always remain professional, but extend it to a more personal level. It’s not just about your product, brand or organization now that the conversations have kicked off. The people you’ve been communicating, interacting and engaging with really need to connect with each other, too. Events are really important for community building. Create meet ups, tweet ups and other offline events to get your community together and interacting – not just with your brand, but with each other. Facilitate introductions and help others get connected, too.
3. Cement your relationships
People want to do business with people they know and support the people they like. When you take the time to keep in touch with your community members and check in on them from time to time, you cement your relationships. Social networking isn’t much different than networking offline, it’s all about relationships and you’ve got to circle back and keep in touch. If you’ve met someone at an industry event, when you get back to the office, let them know it was great to meet them and thank them for chatting with you. When you genuinely take an interest in what others in your circles have going on, they’ll be more inclined to check in and see what you’ve got going on as well. Real connections help you to you feel more invested in people’s projects. You want to support what your friends are doing and in turn they’ll want to do the same for you. Therefore, make time to routinely meet offline with the people you’ve connected with online to secure those relationships.
Read the rest of Trish’s post here.